Self-learning robots may soon inspect nuclear sites

Some jobs are simply too dangerous for humans. Near the top of that list is nuclear cleanup -- so to keep us mere homo sapiens safe, we're sending in robots. To help improve the bots' decision making skills, scientists at the University of Lincoln have won a grant to develop artificial intelligence systems for self-learning robots deployed at nuclear sites. The team received £1.1 million ($1.5 million) from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop machine learning AI. The algorithms will help robots handle tasks like decommissioning, waste handling and site monitoring. Researchers will develop AI for mapping and navigation, as well as vision-guided grasping, manipulation and cutting.